- Be strong, move on, and go
depths of my being to exist for
unknown purposes, like a child
facing cancer there seems to be
no way out at all, but that little
glimmer of hope found in the eyes
of someone so unlikely spins
you off your path into cold, warm
shadows-

Marathon put down her pen and closed her notebook. Now that she had bored herself with television and gaming, she was left with her own thoughts in her own room and a means to write them down. Her pointless poems, as she wrote on the cover of the notebook she held, came to her completely randomly, and the words that flew from the ink this time seemed to go to the paper before manifesting themselves in her brain. It was only after everything was written did she seem to think about the poem itself.

She found herself writing just moments after, opening the notebook to the very next page:

- Lifeless corpse, always
the wrong one, always the person
it shouldn't be, always the person
who deserves to live, abandoned in a
cold metal drawer with a number
attached, losing all name, feeling
and meaning, nothing but rotting
flesh to the world, meant to be tossed
aside and buried ten feet under
the ground, just to be forgotten
would be so much better if it
were me -

A wave of anger flowed over her. The anger at first started with InuYasha, the so called strong independent warrior that had let her cousin fall. That quickly left her because she didn't have it in her heart to blame him, and then it went to its proper target, the multifarious. It spread to all aspects of her life, anything that was supposed to happen didnt, and everything wrong that could happen would happen. What hurt the most is that anyone connected to her had to share the pain. She remembered clearly the day InuYasha had almost destroyed Kagome's room in a fit of so much sadness it was self destructed. She remembered wanting to do the same thing herself. The room closed in on her, she felt a pain in her own chest, and then a need to get out. She would take to walking today, by herself, and see where her experiences would lead her.
Marathon got to her feet and tucked her pen in her pocket and her notebook under her arm. She left the Higurashi household quietly, and no one noticed at all. Typical, in her eyes.

InuYasha, Miroku, and Souta had since made a trip to the convenience store. InuYasha was thouroughly disappointed with the shotty selection of ramen noodles, but Miroku was generally satisfied with the 'reading' material, set up in the back of the store.

"InuYasha, we do have some ramen left at home" Souta rolled his eyes as InuYasha set most of what was available on the cashier's counter. "Mom just wanted us to pick up some milk, that's all, we really should be getting back."

"I wanna take this stuff with me when I go back to the past," InuYasha pulled out the appropriate change from his jacket pocket and handed it to the cashier. It was actually Marathon's black leather jacket, but it fit him nicely, even with the thin red-trimmed collar. "Kagome never brought enough of it, so this time I'm coming prepared."

"Have you talked to Marathon yet? When do you plan to leave?" Miroku asked InuYasha. "You don't seem to be in a hurry yourself, yet you speak like it is."

InuYasha shut his eyes for a moment. The images of Kagome falling in the snow was permanently a part of him now. He remembered the scent of her blood, the feel of the snow on his feet, the smell of the area around her, every detail of that moment. Now he clearly understood. As much as this time period was not his home, it was a shallow escape from the intense pain. He rubbed his side, it was acting up again, then took the bag from the cashier.

I have to get over this. I have stuff to do. If Kagome's family hadn't stopped me and kept me in her time, I wouldve reacted like I always did. I would've killed until her murderer was a smear of blood on my Tetsusaiga.

He traced back over his own thoughts, Maybe that IS why they kept me..and made me face it without swinging my sword.

"InuYasha.." Miroku put a hand on his friend's shoulder. He set the magazines down on the counter and Souta put the milk up there, and it was paid for. As they walked out, Miroku kept his hand on his shoulder.

"Its easy to become lost in one's own thoughts, isn't it? For the longest time after I lost my father I did the same, wondering when I would suffer the same fate. I still do."

InuYasha's sad expression then transformed itself into a scowl. First its Naraku, now this demon, and probably Sesshomaru from behind coming to stab me in the back. Everyone's trying to screw me over. I've had it. His fist clenched so tight he cut his own hand with his claws.

"You have to have more information Miroku," InuYasha spoke in a demanding tone, "How in the hell do we defeat something that can split itself infinetly?"

"I don't know."

"And don't you think I am going to forget about Naraku. To tell you the truth I'm not all that certain he doesn't have his sleezy hands into this. I swear it to you, I'm going to kill every one of the multifarous and then use their bones to crush Naraku into the ground. If Sesshomaru even looks at me wrong he's going down too. Screw this human life, I'll never be happy again and I'm going to make everyone pay!"

Miroku looked away and Souta looked down at his feet. The normally quick walk home would seem to take way too long in the minds of all of them.

Marathon came back in just as quietly as she had left, and sat down half asleep in the corner of the living room. She had almost fallen asleep when Kirara jumped into her lap and curled up. The little firecat looked up at her with big beautiful blinking eyes, and Marathon hugged her lightly. "No wonder Sango likes you so much, you know how much people would pay to get a kitty like you?".
Kirara purred, and turned around to look up at Sango, who was approaching them.

"Thanks for the clean clothes again, Marathon." Sango was now dressed in dark red pants and a black shirt, which reminded Marathon of her taijiya outfit. "These fit well, I'm thinking next time I go back hope I will take one of these outfits with me instead. The change will be nice."

"Fine with me." Marathon set Kirara down lightly and stood to her feet. "One thing, slayer chick, do you always do your hair exactly the same way?"

Sango thought for a moment, then ran her hands through her hair. "Its easier for me to put it up when I'm on a demon hunt, otherwise, I wear it down."

"You got nicer hair than me, why don't you braid it or something?"

"Braid it?"

"Yeah, sit down over there in that chair." Marathon pointed over to it, and Sango took her seat.

"Lets see if I remember anythign Rishana taught me." Marathon grabbed a brush from nearby and combed it out, catching a lot of tangles. "You gotta comb your hair more, kid."

Sango squinted and nodded, then Marathon held back a laugh.

"These are the reasons why Kagome had to -pack- to go to your time." The catgirl started by seperating her hair with her fingers, then carefully weaving the locks in a precise fashion all the way down the slayer's back. Once she reached the end she grabbed a rubber band to close it off, then let the braid fall down. "Not bad for someone who hasn't done that in centuries."

Sango grabbed her braid and brought it to the front so she could get a good look at it. "This may be even more practical for my demon hunts. Thank you, Marathon."

"Its not a problem," she said, right as the door opened and the boys returned. Marathon rolled her eyes and walked up to InuYasha, snatching the ramen bag from his hands and looking inside of it. "For me? Thank you."

"The hell? What makes you think you have claim to everything cat?"

"You owe me at least a few cases of ramen, pig."

"Bitch."

"Ass."

Marathon with a light but somewhat painful thump, smacked InuYasha in the head.

"What was that for?"

"For not evolving."

"Gods, woman, who lit the fuse on your tampon?"

Everyone stared at InuYasha, and he stared back, "What?"

"Do you even know what that means, Einstein?"

"Er..no."

Marathon smacked him again, and started to take the ramen upstairs. InuYasha chased her down, but the mood seemed much more playful than their last 'ramen battle." Miroku smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. "You wouldn't believe the burdens they are both bearing, Sango, its comforting to know they have a way to smile through all of this."

"That's true. On top of finding the multifarious we still have to defeat Naraku. All of the people he hurt are counting on us, including Kohaku."

Miroku's expression turned somber upon Sango's mentioning of her younger brother. "There are still several solutions to be found. Hopefully at the end of this all families will be complete again."

"I just hope that the jewel can bring Kagome back."

Miroku started to reply to that, but stopped, remembering his promise to Marathon. "Me too," he replied instead, and found his hands slipping down the silky softness of her new braid. "You are looking especially beautiful, Sango, I'm assuming Marathon did this for you?"

"Yes, I wish I could get a better look at it. She said I should try something different, so I am. I am even thinking of bringing some of the clothing with me this time. "

"The strange clothing would definately be a distraction to your enemies. Who knows, maybe you can use it to your advantage."

"Either that or point me out to them." Sango shook her head at him, and they both shared (for once) a sincere, non-hentai moment.

At the hospital, Nami anxiously went over to Ms. Higurashi's side. " I can finally go, they said so."

Ms. Higurashi smiled and took her hand. "You gave us a bit of a scare there, they just wanted to keep you to make absolutely sure you were okay. It could've been much more serious than it was, lets just be thankful that its all over. I'm sure Shippou misses you a lot."

Nami blushed and giggled nervously, "I don't know about that."

"Yes, he wanted to be here with you but I suggested he stay at home. He was worried enough already, and I knew his friends would help him to feel better. I suffered from this once as a child, actually twice, and it scared me too. Especially the first time I had to go here, I just didn't know what to do with myself."

"This is a whole new world to me so none of thise really makes sense."

"The hospital doesn't even if you are from here. Even if you been here before a few times, it never really becomes comfortable. Mind you these people are here to help, and they do give you the best of care, but its still a scary place. This particular hospital has a lot of memories for me." Ms. Higurashi stopped in her tracks, and Nami looked her in the eye.

"What is it?"

"Kagome took her last breath here."

"I.." Nami wrapped her arms around herself and tried to search for the appropriate words, "from the way they were talking I though she had died back in my time."

"Not quite. My Kagome was struck down in your time. It looked like she had died instantly, and they were able to get InuYasha's brother to help with his healing sword, the Tenseiga. It didn't work for reason's beyond our understanding, but just as they were about to bury her there she breathed, just for a moment. With what little hope they had, InuYasha brought her here and she was sent to the hospital. For an hour she hung at death's door, until she lost the battle completely. "

"I'm really sorry. The multifarious was responsible for this?"

"That's what I've been told."

"I hope that my godmother in the East can help. I think she knows even more about the Multifarous and the only one to conquer it, the Golden One. It seems impossible though, hearing all the stories about its infinite power."

Ms. Higarashi got down on her knees and looked the girl in the eye. "You remind me a lot of Kagome, Nami. Kagome always found a way, and I know you guys will too. You have to, what would make my heart break even more is if this threat wasn't stopped. "

"I'll do my best then, ma'am. For you."

Marathon hid the ramen where InuYasha wouldn't easily find it, and sat right back where she was sitting earlier, notebook in hand. She wasn't there when Kagome died, but she could see a scene play out in her head as best as her mind could put it together. She opened her notebook to page three and began to write:

- Bright lights, strong towers
beauty, endurance, the
power to fight and the
courage to fail, young love
shattered into a million tiny
pieces, leaving an outcast
outcast further, and onlookers
sunk in quicksand muttering
the name ' Kagome ' -